Discord in a Different Dimension
by Kirlial
Summary: A minor goddess is bored. The solution? Push the hero into a different dimension. Percy finds himself surrounded by familiar faces, some that should be dead, but things have changed. And... he wants to overthrow Olympus in this world? Takes place after Last Olympian.
1. Pushed out of space!

**Hey there, I sort of abandoned my original attempt of this story after seven chapter but recently revisited it and reminded myself of why I liked the idea so much. I hope you enjoy it as well. This story will feature familiar characters but with slightly different roles and motivations though I won't reveal anymore now.**

** Heroes of Olympus is disregarded for this and set after Last Olympian. This is basically just the prologue.**

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Eris, Greek goddess of Discord, crept through the quiet camp with a maniacal grin on her young-looking face. Though she was immortal, in her preferred form she appeared as a little girl because one wouldn't suspect such an innocent figure to be withholding a soul that thrived on chaos and strife. Camp Half-blood was almost empty in the early hours of the morning, allowing her to move through undetected. Ironically, (in her mind), her reason for coming was to shatter the calm and quiet atmosphere. The camp had been too boring lately and it was her job to make it more interesting!

Percy Jackson, meanwhile, was sitting alone on the beach at the edge of the camp, watching the ocean; it seemed his recent heroics enabled him to stay out as late as he wished. He was her target, though he didn't know it. His existence had been previously dangerous and exciting due to that old prophecy but since he'd succeeded in saving Olympus from the Titan invasion, he hadn't risked his life once! He hadn't done anything particularly dangerous in weeks nor did he appear to be planning anything either; Eris would've noticed. It was frustratingly boring for the girl who lived for thrills.

She approached at the edge of the beach, watching him from afar. He hadn't noticed her yet, given that he was staring blankly out at the sea - practically inviting her to sneak up on him. His inattention was convenient for her plan, (though part of her also wanted him to be more alert as it would have been exciting to try a bit of deception too).

She couldn't resist a large grin as she went through the devious plan in her mind, eager to begin. She hadn't attempted anything of this magnitude since she'd 'accidentally' left an important door in Olympus wide open, inviting a certain son of Hermes to steal a certain Master bolt. Like most of her plans, this one was delightfully simple, (though power-consuming). There was nothing quite like destroying order with the lightest of touches, the very smallest changes to an otherwise perfect reality. All she had to do was push him on the back. A violent shove into another dimension where she would watch what erupted as he was thrown into an alien situation.

Percy Jackson was undoubtedly a very dangerous, daring hero. He'd challenged gods and titans to battle and had lived to tell the tale. He'd willingly taken on the curse of Achilles just for more power. Eris had, of course, selected him quite deliberately. Whatever he did in a new dimension, he'd surely be entertaining and that was what was most important. Sure, she could pick some new up-and-coming hero but there was always a chance that they'd be dull.

And the best part was that even she wouldn't know what sort of dimension he'd end up in, for there was myriad kinds. The anticipation of the unknown was enticing. And all it would require from her was just one little push. Then she'd follow him like a ghost, watching the new scenario evolve. Maybe the alternate Percy from the new dimension could be pulled into this world too, for twice the chaos? That'd be perfect. The possibilities of that scenario were endless.

So Eris approached Percy Jackson, the recent hero of Olympus, carefully. The cool sand meant that her light footsteps scarcely made a sound and she fearlessly walked barefoot over to him, stopping mere inches away from him. She raised her hands, which were already twitching with chaotic magic. Only then did he appear to realise that she was behind him; maybe he'd sensed the magic somehow? He shuddered, instinctively turning around but it was too late for him to prevent what was about to occur.

She quickly placed her small hands on his back, fingers digging into his skin. Without wasting time for him to put up a struggle, she summoned her powers of discord. His eyes found hers, startled and confused; she gazed back evenly. And, taking a deep breath, she pushed him forcefully forward as a tear in the very fabric that made up their dimension appeared before them.

Two bodies fell through the rift.

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Percy choked down a scream at the menacing dark light(?) that he was being thrown into; sucking him in as if it were ravenously hungry. Who was she? What was this? Where did the peaceful beach go? Questions churned through his mind but no answers.

All he could was observe as it pulled him down, for he could see nothing, and only feel the far too rapid motion. His brain (Annabeth had always said it was full of Kelp), it seemed to be feeling things all wrongly - why else wouldn't he be able feel his arms and legs? He remembered the little girl,who had been clinging to his shoulders - was she still there? Had he imagined her (for he'd seen her for only the briefest instant)?

The world stilled, movement halting like gravity had simply stopped pulling, though he saw nothing. Was he floating? The journey had been very short, and far too fast. Or was his sense of time also being distorted? His mind was definitely confused, after all.

The entire ordeal up to that point had been very disorientating but none of it compared to simply blinking and finding that he was in a new place. The emptiness was gone yet the vast dark ocean was still nowhere to be seen. Percy found himself in a dimly-lit room, illuminated by a desk lamp. His clothes too, appeared to be changed, a thick dark green jacket in contrast to the ragged orange t-shirt he'd previously had on. How was this happening? His mind was basically a cloud of confusion, which took time to sort out.

The most immediate thing he noticed was the girl still hanging onto his shoulder somehow, for he could feel her substantial weight once more. He knew she had to have something to do with this. Turning around, he grabbed her fiercely, easily pulling the small girl off himself and onto the wooden floor in front of him; she only giggled. She barely came up to his shoulders but she was wearing a large grin and her dark eyes were glinting mischievously.

Now Percy happened to have a fair amount of experience dealing with immortal beings disguised to look innocent (Percy arbitrarily decided that she just barely qualified on looking innocent), and judging on how she didn't appear at all afraid or even a little surprised by the darkness or the new location, he concluded that she was somehow the cause of all this. There was also the fact that she'd appeared out of nowhere. At the very least she had to know what was going on. Maybe she'd created an elaborate illusion?

"Where am I? And who are you?" He demanded desperately but firmly.

She slid out of his admittedly loose grip cheerfully. "Somewhere exciting, I hope!"

It wasn't the sort of response he'd been expected, but it did kind of fit a little kid. He considered grabbing her again as she gazed around the room eagerly. He sighed, trying to adjust to his surroundings. He really didn't want to deal with any of this yet; surely the world could wait a minute before he had to act.

"I'm going to look around but I will come back - don't worry!" She said in an oddly relaxed yet enthusiastic voice, opening the only door in this plain-looking room. He could see her frown slightly when it only lead to an equally bland hallway. "You can call me Eris though," she added in an afterthought before darting down the hallway.

"Good luck then, Eris." Percy replied uncertainly, not sure if she heard or not.

He couldn't help but calm down simply at her infectiously happy attitude. None of her actions indicated that there was any immediate danger. She was just looking around. Even if this was some far too elaborate scheme to kill him, he was invulnerable, with his curse of Achilles. And even if she was the cause of this, at least she seemed to be happy. He liked it when little girls were happy. Maybe this could be the start of one of those fun not life-threatening adventures. They existed, right?

And why did the name Eris sound so familiar to him?

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**So this is the first chapter in an alternate universe fic featuring canon Percy. The idea is that Eris is just there for thrills and will follow around Percy, messing with the plot whenever it amuses her. She never appears in canon but she's the Greek goddess of Strife. Percy doesn't know it yet but in this world he's a bit of a villain - and so are some of his friends. Of course his ideals haven't changed yet.**

**Anyway I would appreciate some reviews! Some feedback, encouragement and criticism would be lovely but mostly, I hope you like this. The tone's meant to be light and fun but there will be some plot too.**


	2. Not Getting Any Answers!

**I'm pleased to say that I got a good response and I have some more ideas so I went and wrote another chapter. This one's a little longer and you can consider the first a prologue. Hope you like it!**

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Oh no.

As Percy waited for the little girl to come back from exploring their strange environment he recalled Annabeth once telling him a story concerning a certain goddess named Eris. It was a worrying one. In the myth, Eris had been angry because she hadn't been invited to a cool party or something and in revenge started an argument between Athena, Aphrodite and Hera on who was the prettiest. That argument had somehow escalated into the Trojan war. Annabeth had recommended adding Eris to his list of names to stay far, far away from. It looked like he'd failed.

Oh well, he still had to figure out exactly what she'd done. He'd been on the beach and now he was in a building in different clothes. He looked around the small, sparsely furnished bedroom but he didn't recognise it at all. The lone window indicated that it was late at night, which was about the same time as before he'd somehow teleported here, at least. That meant she couldn't have put him half-way around the world. The completely different assortment of clothes he was somehow wearing indicated that it wasn't some sort of 'normal teleportation' (if those existed at all) though. Especially as the petite goddess herself didn't appear to know where they were, not that he could really trust anything she said.

There was also the strange sensation of the brief teleportation itself. The gods could teleport but they did it in a divine flash of gold, not falling into an inky black crevice that appeared in front of him. Upon entering it, he'd been in a world of darkness, his entire being moving at a breakneck pace but all of it beyond his control. Then he was just... here. Nico's shadow travelling had involved darkness, of course, but it had been far smoother.

Still he looked around, Eris had said she'd come back in a minute hadn't she? He didn't feel much like chasing after her. If he found out where he was now, then he could find a way to get back to Camp Half-blood.

Percy was drawn to the sight of some framed photos lying on a table – a desk actually- and examined them, inwardly wishing he didn't have to intrude on someone's privacy. There were five different photographs. The first looked to be… a picture of himself and Annabeth? He froze, chilled at the sight. Why would a picture of them be lying in a random room. Particularly one he didn't recognise - Annabeth's long hair was barely brushing her shoulders they both looked old enough that it had to have been taken within the last year or so.

Looking for sense, he forced himself to turn to the other pictures. He found himself looking at a photo of himself (again?) and Thalia, except she looked way older than she ought to be. How could Thalia look so old? She couldn't look that old because she was an immortal huntress who didn't age. Even if she was aging, she still couldn't be _that _old, like at least twenty.

He turned to the others, taking a deep breath to remain calm. Maybe he was really stuck in a weird illusion. The next showed Bianca di Angelo, together with Silena Beauregard of all people? There was an another of Chris Rodriguez standing next to him and Ethan Nakamura, the son of Nemesis. Finally a last picture with all seven demigods, including himself.

This was too much. Three of those people were dead. Why would there be photos of them here? And he was standing next to them but he didn't remember ever posing for a picture with any of them. Where could these pictures have possibly come from? Just looking at the mix between familiar and unfamiliar was making his head hurt.

Percy hadn't been able to hold a civil conversation with Ethan when he was alive so getting a picture taken just didn't make any sense whatsoever. He recalled Ethan had been obsessed with revenge on the gods. And he'd only known Bianca for such a short time. He forced himself to look away from the questionably genuine photographs, as realistic as they looked. Maybe some divine being (Eris maybe?) was attempting to mess with his mind?

Trying to distract himself from them for the moment, he looked around the room again. The only thing that caught his eye was a large rectangular glass tank full of water, sort of like a fish tank but without any fish in it. He wondered what it could be there for – maybe someone was planning to get some fish soon and was preparing in advance? There was also a small bed in the room but it didn't look particularly threatening so he ignored it. He couldn't resist turning back to the desk, but allowed himself to focus on a curious object he'd missed – a mobile phone.

Usually demigods avoided phones as they had an annoying tendency to alert monsters to their presence, this was supposed to be a demigod's room wasn't it? Well, Annabeth had a phone and she was a demigod so it didn't exactly rule out anything. He picked it up nervously, and tried to turn it on, but it immediately requested a passcode before it would tell him anything interesting. That was a little infuriating but he probably ought to have expected it. Trying to guess the passcode was unlikely to work and to be honest he didn't want to be taking someone's phone.

As he was putting the phone back down, he heard the light footsteps of someone running and turned to see Eris come bounding back into the room. He immediately grabbed her by the right arm because she'd already landed into his list of possible enemies. It was best if she wasn't able to do anything. Eris didn't seem to care about being grabbed, in fact she was laughing, looking excited by whatever she'd seen.

"I'm back!" She announced grandly.

"Okay, so what did you discover?" He asked, with far less enthusiasm, not that it was possible to have more. Nevertheless, he need answers.

The girl was practically bouncing in excitement. "Well we're in a house and it appears that seven demigods live here. We don't appear to have moved through time at all!"

Percy wondered if that information was really worth being that excited about. He'd already guessed some sort of demigod was living in this room. Still, seven was rather a lot in one place. He wondered how often it would be attacked by monsters. He had a foreboding feeling that they weren't safe inside Camp anymore.

"Right. How did we get here by the way?" He asked in a serious voice. She wasn't taking this seriously at all.

She rolled her eyes at his lack of enjoyment. "I pushed you, obviously."

That just raised more questions. At least he knew for sure that this was all her fault though. "Why?" He asked.

She attempted to wrestle her arm out of his grip, purely for some dramatic gestures and arm waving. He didn't let go. "Because this is going to be really exciting!" She declared, stretching out her arms as if suggesting it was 'that' exciting.

Percy was unaffected by her enthusiasm. "You pushed both of us through an evil portal for fun? Am I going to be stuck here forever or something…?" He asked feeling worried, because gods liked doing things like that.

She cackled. "Yes, lots of fun! I'm not powerful enough to keep both of us here indefinitely though. I'm only some minor goddess. And that's not even taking into consideration your alternate self."

"Wait my alternate self?"

Eris suddenly silenced, smile disappearing. For a few seconds she remained very still. Percy waited for her to respond as it seemed pretty important.

Then she tugged her arm out of his grip once more and he, not expecting it, let her loose. The goddess simply turned and dashed away, through the doorway and into the hall. She was really going to run away to avoid his questions? Percy quickly gave chase to demand some more information from her; it was clear she was hiding something and he still had to demand that she bring him home.

It seemed to be a long hallway with many doors, (presumably they were more bedrooms). Eris was hurrying forward with purpose, but she wasn't as fast as him. Just as he was about to catch her, she tried turning a corner and froze before she could crash into a wall in her haste.

Percy immediately lunged for her, hoping to grab her so she couldn't escape again. She turned to face him and gave him an expectant, evil little smile. He grabbed her shoulders and held her in a firm grip, giving the girl a hopefully very serious glare. Why was she smiling?

He soon found out. She deftly placed her little hands on his chest before he could stop her and she pushed him as hard as she could. Normally this wouldn't be much of a worry but unfortunately for him, trying to take a step back to stabilise himself utterly failed and he lost his balance and found himself tumbling backwards down the staircase, for she'd led him to the very top of it.

"Aaahh!" He yelled, angrily.

He closed his eyes, bracing himself for the hard impact but it wasn't as bad as he'd feared – someone had caught him, preventing him from getting seriously hurt.

He looked around, dazed, and was pleasantly surprised to catch sight of his girlfriend Annabeth's face. He grinned at her, and tried to orientate himself – he was now lying on the carpeted stairs, with his feet a few steps above his head. Annabeth appeared to be upside down to him. She was here too, and she'd just saved him?

He quickly righted himself and sat down on the second step next to Annabeth who was looking at him in concern, and just a tiny bit of amusement. She often laughed when he got himself into silly situations but always came to help him if he needed it. It was a relief to know that she was here with him, because they could sort it out together. He was aware of a dull pain on his head, which was odd because he wasn't supposed to feel any pain since his dip in the river Styx.

"You alright, Percy? Please try to avoid killing yourself every time you walk down the stairs, it's not hard," she lectured but looked at him in concern.

"Don't worry, I'm fine," Percy replied quickly, smiling at her. He glanced up the stairs but didn't see Eris anywhere; she was probably just out of sight though. He'd have to get revenge later.

"Of course you're fine, I stopped you from falling!" Annabeth smiled back.

"Yeah thanks, hey did you cut your hair?" He asked, noting its short length. Percy easily got distracted, but he didn't want to mention Eris just yet. Maybe Annabeth knew what was happening though?

Annabeth just rolled her eyes at him. "Of course not, you know I haven't left the house in a few days?"

She'd been here a while? Before he could try and interpret that, another two people walked over to them, coming through a doorway from some other part of this building. He recognised Chris Rodriguez, son of Hermes, but paused at the sight of Thalia whom looked to be at least twenty years old or older. That was impossible, wasn't she nearly sixteen for life? Was this some sort of weird dream maybe?

"What happened?" Old Thalia asked briskly, looking at the pair of them.

Annabeth was acting like everything was perfectly normal, oddly enough. "Percy fell down the stairs but he seems to be fine, still featherbrained unfortunately." Her tone was warm rather than insulting, he was half-expecting her to call him a 'seaweed brain'.

Thalia sighed but her eyes were glittering. Maybe she wasn't that old. "That's far too much to be expected of a staircase, Annabeth," she said. She was so at ease that she was casually teasing him?

Percy tried to catch Annabeth's eye, waiting for her to give a clue as to what to do, or a hint as to why she was pretending that everything was alright, but she just gave him a blank, uncertain look. Was something wrong with Annabeth?

"Well guys, ready for a quick meeting?" Chris cut in, before the girls could tease him anymore. He was good for defusing tension.

What was going on? Why were they acting like nothing was wrong? Percy hadn't heard of any meeting however the others didn't seem surprised. What had happened to them? Did none of them find it all strange to be in this house, looking different? Annabeth had mentioned that she hadn't left in a few days and implied that Percy had also been here except that he didn't remember anything like that. And according to Eris (who wasn't exactly reliable), they hadn't moved through time either. The whole situation was just baffling.

Still, without any better option, he followed the others into another room, a dining room judging by the large table in the centre. One of Percy's strategies for dealing with the unknown was to just pretend he knew exactly what was happening and hope it would eventually make sense. Usually someone ended up noticing just how clueless Percy was and ended up explaining it to him.

He froze at the sight of three other occupants in the new room. Maybe he ought to have expected this as those pictures had been a dead giveaway if he stopped to think about it. But as it was, nothing prepared him for the sight of three dead people casually sitting or standing as if they belonged there. Silena Beauregard, daughter of Aphrodite. Ethan Nakamura, son of Nemesis the goddess of revenge (they had been enemies until he'd betrayed Kronos and sacrificed his life). Finally there was Bianca di Angelo, huntress (was she still a huntress) and the daughter of Hades, Nico's sister. What was he supposed to think about all this?

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**That's it! What did you think? Please review with your comments as they're very appreciated. **

**Alternate!Annabeth and Alternate!Percy are going to be quite different from the canon characters, but they're close to each other anyway. Some people who were dead are alive here - interesting right? **

**Hopefully I'll update soon, especially with encouraging comments. Thanks for reading!**


	3. Meeting with the un-friends

**Hey there, a few nice reviews so have another chapter! Starting to get something like a plot going though there's still plenty more to be revealed. **

**Oh just so you're clear, the character's ages. Percy and Annabeth are both 16. Ethan and Chris are 17. Silena is 18. Bianca is 15 and Thalia is nearly 22.**

**Ethan is canon by the way, he meets Percy in the 4th book and when Percy spares his life he joins Kronos, giving him another power to rise. In the end he does redeem himself though, and dies. His goal was to get minor gods a throne and he succeeded, but sacrificed himself doing so. All the characters (except Eris) are canon so far and Eris is a Greek goddess of Strife. So, on to the story!**

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Three people he knew to be dead. Three more people who seemed strange and weren't acting like anything was wrong. How could he be the only one noticing?

Rather than face the problem head on, Percy thought up a different solution to this conundrum – run away from it as fast as he could. He dashed up the stairs, hardly paying attention to Annabeth's surprised face as he sailed away from them. For want of a familiar place to turn to, he headed back into the room he'd first appeared in. He didn't hear anyone giving pursuit just yet. Eris was in there, sitting on the bed.

Percy breathed deeply, collapsing on the desk chair as he tried to puzzle through what he'd just seen. All three of them had definitely been dead and there was no explanation for why they would be alive now, and casually walking around. All these weird things were happening and… Percy turned to Eris; she was the cause of it, wasn't she?

"Could you explain where all these dead people have come from?" He demanded of the smirking little girl.

"You're not supposed to run away from your friends Percy; I can call you Percy, right?" The girl began by completely derailing the conversation.

"I don't think they're really my friends!" Percy exclaimed, with some frustration.

Eris's face morphed into one of surprise. "Didn't think you'd work that out so quickly," she said, faintly impressed. She seemed to be on the verge of some evil laughter.

He paused at those words. How had he come to that conclusion exactly? Ethan Nakamura had never been his friend and only Annabeth and Thalia could really be called close friends but somehow… he knew those people down there weren't _his _friends. There were so many little things off about them that'd he'd observed in just a short time.

Yet that had been unmistakeably Annabeth, so how could she feel like a stranger to him? And didn't he want Silena and Bianca back? Trying to rationalise what he had seen was making his head hurt.

"So what exactly did you do?" He asked. Eris was watching his expression closely.

Suddenly she jumped up and did a cute little twirl; why, Percy hadn't the faintest idea. "I'd love to tell you but it's far too much fun watching you struggle, sorry!" She said cheerfully, moving to stand behind Percy's chair.

"So, you're not going to tell me anything?"

"Hmm… I recommend you act naturally, don't alert your friends to the fact that you're from a different reality," she advised brightly after considering the question thoughtfully.

"A different reality?" He mumbled, if Eris was trying to keep things from him, she was doing a terrible job. She had been acting really excited so she was likely getting carried away. Or it was her deliberately revealing information for her own agenda.

"So are you heading back downstairs now?" She prodded, pretending not to hear that last comment though she was standing right next to him.

Though he was reluctant to do so, following Eris's advice made sense, don't alert anyone to what was happening. Well he didn't want them to notice anything and they were expecting him to be at their meeting, weren't they? With that thought, Percy reluctantly got up and left his room, ready to risk getting found out on his mediocre acting skills. Not that he was that bad, but he could often be a little impulsive. Still, Annabeth was always saying that people tended to underestimate him, deciding he was a 'seaweed brain', so maybe no one would notice if he had no idea what was going on.

He ran down the corridor, and hurried down the staircase, to get to the room he'd seen them in before. As he turned though, he stumbled awkwardly as he nearly crashed into someone. He struggled to straighten himself and looked up to apologise to the person; it was Silena. She'd obviously been waiting for him and merely snorted as his sudden appearance, so he just decided to stay quiet.

"Thalia's furious at you for running out like that, hope you have a good excuse," she said, a slight smirk on her face, before turning and walking down the last few steps of the stairs.

Percy quickly followed. "Sorry, I… umm, er…" He began, but couldn't really think of any excuses to explain why he'd dashed off.

He was distracted by the sight of the girl whom he knew to be dead. She looked alive. Her attitude was very different from how he last remembered her; defiant and brave but underneath that she'd been rather broken inside. Beckendorf's death had hurt Silena badly and it was odd to see her looking so relaxed. He'd never thought he'd meet her again but he'd sort of expected her to be a little sad and regretful or something.

"Never mind, just come on."

And he walked into the dining room with her. Five demigods looked up at him in annoyance; he'd apparently not chosen the best time to run off. Silena smoothly glided through the room and sat down at the table. Percy just stood there sheepishly, not sure whether to follow or something else.

"I don't want to hear any excuses, just come and sit down so we can start," was all Thalia said in a clipped tone. She was most definitely in charge here.

He relaxed and gratefully took the open seat between Annabeth and Chris. For some reason, Thalia wasn't interested in telling him off. And she was so clearly the leader of this little group; possibly because she seemed to be the oldest but more likely because of her dominating personality.

"So we've been busy with operation: build a better camp half-blood and currently Annabeth thinks the biggest problem is protection," she began. That was what this group was trying to do?

Percy raised his hand. "What's wrong with the current camp?"

Thalia looked a little irritated at the interruption but fortunately Ethan quickly replied. "That's a good point; we need to make sure ours is going to be superior so it can't have the same problems."

Annabeth nodded. "And protection's the main problem; if we could stop monsters getting in then half-bloods would jump at the chance to join us," she said with certainty.

Ethan didn't look so sure. "Yes, but remember that the camp is filled with weapons and strawberry fields and all that Greek architecture, we need to look professional."

"I think campers would prefer to be safe rather than have strawberry fields," Annabeth replied, an amused look in her eyes.

Percy just watched the as the two debated in bemusement. While they were arguing, it was clear that they were friends and he wouldn't have imagined something like that ever happening. Even if this was some kind of… alternate reality. He still didn't know why they wanted to build a new camp but it seemed to be sort of competitive. And wasn't the camp a safe haven with strong magical protection from Thalia's tree? Why did they all want a new one now?

"The strawberries bring in money, the camp is a comfortable place to live and it's better protected than anywhere else," Ethan shot back.

"We get the point Ethan; we'll work on more than just protection, okay?" Chris cut in loudly, his intent not so much to pacify as to get them both to stop arguing.

"Yes. So we'd like to build a strong fort ideally but does anyone have any other suggestions for a good defence?" Thalia asked, quickly getting the meeting back under control.

Wait, what if there wasn't magic from Thalia's tree to protect the camp? Then it'd be practically defenceless, like during that summer when it had been poisoned… And Thalia seemed older, like she hadn't spent a years as a tree. That had to be the problem. Percy felt cold, scared by the prospect. He'd woken up in a place where Thalia was never a tree?

He didn't know why they wanted a new camp but it was clear that it was an important goal and they all seemed to believe that he was part of it too for some reason. How would he defend the camp if Thalia's spirit wasn't there? His mind recalled how Peleus the dragon had been purchased to defend it. Could they just purchase more creatures, at least as a starting point. Ideally ones that wouldn't want to eat them like those giant scorpions Daedalus had bought for the camp. Or the mechanical bull. Or the hellhound Luke had summoned to the camp on his very first summer.

"What if you got some magical creatures from the Triple G ranch to help defend?" Percy found himself saying the first not terrible thing that popped to mind.

The effect was immediate. Everyone turned to stare at him in surprise. "You've never mentioned this Ranch before, Percy?" Bianca eventually spoke carefully.

He wasn't supposed to know about it? Wonderful, now he'd have to think up a convincing lie. Percy was pretty terrible at lies, in his opinion, but he couldn't exactly tell them that Annabeth had been leading a quest through the labyrinth. Even worse, Bianca's ghost had appeared to them at the ranch. Why'd he have to speak up?

"I found out about it recently," he said quickly.

They seemed to accept his word, fortunately. "So what is this ranch?" Bianca asked in that quiet voice of hers.

"They take care of animals like Apollo's red sun cows and flesh-eating horses," Percy explained, wishing he had more intelligent things to add. All he could think of was how Nico had summoned Bianca's ghost there and that wasn't the best thing to say.

"You're suggesting we use flesh-eating horses as guards?" Thalia's tone revealed she was intrigued by the idea however.

"So where is this place?" Chris, next to him, asked.

Of course they'd ask him questions that he didn't know the answer to. He'd found the place by going through the labyrinth but that was collapsed. Wait a minute, how did he know it wasn't still there? If Thalia's tree didn't exist then the camp would never need to be invaded through the labyrinth. Just how different was this place?

"Well, I don't know exactly?" Percy offered nervously, wishing the demigods around him didn't have such intense stares.

"You don't know," Ethan repeated in a sceptical, unimpressed sort of voice. He may have only had one eye, but it looked plenty irritated. "Why even bothering mentioning it?"

"I know it exists and you can order magical creatures from it - that's all! Percy replied as forcefully as he could.

Annabeth patted him comfortingly on the shoulder. She seemed by far the least irritated of the bunch though Chris was looking impressively uncaring about the whole thing and Silena looked more thoughtful than anything else. Of course, Bianca, Ethan and Thalia were the one's participating the most in this weird meeting so far.

"Well I suppose it would be an angle worth investigating at the very least, magical creatures can be strong but hard to control," Thalia decided. Then her voice hardened as she addressed him personally. "In future Percy, please come to the meetings prepared and that means actual useful information. What you've told us is not sufficient when we're trying to make decisions."

He just nodded, resolving to stay quiet for the rest of this probably long meeting.

"Does anyone have any other suggestions regarding protection?" Thalia added, once again addressing the entire table in a cool voice.

"It's all about the right location," Bianca provided. "If we could create some sort of floating isle then we'd prevent any land monsters from attacking it and with a few Pegasus it wouldn't be hard for us to travel to it." Her suggestion honestly sounded really cool, something like Calypso's home.

"No I don't like it," Thalia replied quickly. "As I've told you before," she added in a dangerous tone.

Percy immediately knew why - it was her fear of heights, not that she'd tell anyone about it. It was strange to think this adult really was the same old Thalia but, well, her dark spiky hair and electric blue eyes were the same and her confident demeanour had increased if anything.

The others weren't aware of her phobia though. "Why not though? There are many options worth exploring and we could totally manage it," Ethan replied.

"Well we could make it a regular island instead of a floating one, that would be easier right?" Percy cut in, forgetting his idea of not speaking. No point in letting Thalia be so under pressure.

"Precisely," Thalia said smoothly. "A floating island would be too dangerous anyway and this would be a base for young children among others."

"Well it might work but we'll need more I think," Silena spoke up for the first time, mildly.

"To be honest, there's various forms of protection but they all require some rather demanding funds. We'll need some kind of financial backer if we want more than basic protection," Annabeth interjected, thinking logically.

The faces around the table didn't seem too pleased to bring it up, whatever the group was really doing, they needed money. Demigods didn't exactly have jobs aside from monster fighting and that was necessary for survival. Even if they got jobs in the mortal world, it wasn't golden drachmas.

"The trick is to find people sympathetic to our cause, and for that we need to spread the message," Thalia said. She slammed one hand down on the table suddenly for emphasis. "So the question is whom to ask?"

Who to ask if he needed help on a large project? Percy glanced at Annabeth, who seemed to be biting her lower lip in deep thought. Obviously he'd just ask her, she usually had a lot of project ideas. So she didn't seem to have the answer and that meant the real question was who would Annabeth ask?

Thinking about it, she got a lot of her plans from Daedalus' laptop but it was pretty clear she'd never even been in the labyrinth just like Thalia had never been a tree. Would Daedalus' laptop even exist? Actually the better question was whether or not Daedalus was still alive. Was that possible? Daedalus was very good at hiding from death after all. If nothing else, having a look for him would be an okay idea.

Even though he still wasn't sure what the group was doing and wasn't about to ask. Eh, he trusted Annabeth and Thalia. Admittedly Ethan, Silena and Chris were harder as he was pretty sure that all of them had been helping Luke at one point. But they weren't that bad. What's the worst that could happen?

"What if," Percy began slowly, getting everyone's attention once again. "What if we tried to find Daedalus to help?" He suggested, feeling rather proud of the idea.

Chris raised his eyebrows. Ethan rolled his eyes. Bianca looked confused. Annabeth coughed awkwardly, giving him a quizzical look. Thalia actually barked out a reluctant laugh, not taking it seriously at all.

"Percy, while there are theories that he is alive, they've not been confirmed. Furthermore, if he was alive then he'd be in the Labyrinth which people go insane trying to explore," Thalia explained slowly, like he was an idiot.

"Well, what if I said I knew a way to navigate the Labyrinth safely?" Percy replied, in a determined voice. He was getting annoyed with the way Thalia looked at him. "See I once went in there."

"You what!?" Annabeth shrieked. Her face was pale and she was breathing heavily. She looked absolutely flabbergasted.

Everyone around the table had similar expressions but it was Annabeth who grabbed his arm, desperate for an explanation. Well the Labyrinth was still there, at least.

"It was only for a few minutes, and I think I may be able to find a way to navigate it – it's really useful!" Percy tried to defend himself. It was difficult, not knowing what they knew or what they thought he knew. They weren't exactly suspicious of him yet at least, just angry or worried.

"No, no it's too dangerous, you idiot!" Annabeth warned him loudly.

And Annabeth was probably the most open-minded about the labyrinth. She'd been incredibly fascinated by it until she'd actually entered, his Annabeth anyway.

"Just how reliable is this method of navigation?" It was Ethan; he had this greedy look in his eyes as he'd no doubt understood the tactical advantages it held.

"It's very reliable." Percy probably ought to have attempted to change the subject but at least he could offer useful advice about this. He still had Rachel's number memorised somehow, maybe it would work?

Almost everyone looked uneasy but Ethan was interested by the new idea. "Thalia, we ought to at least look into this," he said to her.

Everyone turned to look to her for the final word. Thalia examined the table, and it's occupants for several moments, then she stood up. "Very well then, I'd like to speak to Percy alone. The rest of you are dismissed for the night but I think we'll have to have another meeting tomorrow morning," she announced solemnly.

Everyone listened to her, the other girls looked concerned, Ethan looked satisfied and Chris's opinion was hard to read. Still they all vacated the room quickly, Annabeth giving him a worried look before leaving him alone with Thalia. He turned to the older girl with apprehension, who knew what she would ask? Why did he have to stand out?

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**That's it for now. Percy hasn't realised that the group he's in doesn't have the noblest of goals for building a new camp, but more to be revealed later.**

**Please do review, as they're very encouraging and appreciated. **


	4. Too many lies

**Hey there, here's another chapter. I hope you like it. Once again thanks for the reviews, a few conversations in this chapter but I'll make sure to increase the pace soon.**

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"I'm struggling to understand why you would keep something like this a secret until just now," Thalia began, actually shutting the door with a gust of wind. He tried not to react to it much though he rarely saw powers used for such mundane purposes.

Her casual use of power was probably meant to be intimidating too though and Percy had to admit it was succeeding as she glowered at him. Now how could he answer? He found himself running his fingers through his dark hair and shrugging his shoulders. Ignorance usually worked best.

"Seriously, you just brought up the fact that you've entered the Labyrinth and found a solution to it. You said it casually in the middle of the meeting. You acted like it wasn't important!" Thalia ranted, working herself into a rage as she talked. Percy watched her warily.

"The solution wasn't that hard, I mean, the answer was there all along," he said nonchalantly. He had to make her think that he was being idiotic and forgetful for not telling her and her words were wasted on him; he didn't want her to become suspicious instead.

It was stupid of him to mention the Labyrinth thing at all; he should have known that they'd be shocked. This Thalia wasn't the Thalia he knew and just because no one he knew would react like that to his information didn't mean it was unexpected here. Instead, he'd made her suspicious and he still wasn't entirely certain that helping the group was the right thing.

Thalia just made some sort of agonised noise as if it was a pain to listen to him; she was looking very frustrated. Then she sighed deeply. "Navigating the labyrinth is supposed to be impossible, why would a solution be simple?"

Thalia was being really sceptical though it was kind of reasonable. "It's only impossible for demigods, well without help anyway," Percy explained quickly, trying to appease the girl, well woman.

"Who helped you then?" She demanded.

Rachel wouldn't mind being contacted, would she? Percy realised that Rachel might be… alternate too but hopefully she wouldn't have changed. If she could help them navigate the labyrinth again then Thalia would have to believe that he'd discovered the secret. Conveniently he still remembered her number though there was no guarantee it would work. If that failed he could try her house.

"This girl I know," Percy answered truthfully.

"Who is this girl? Where'd did you meet her?" She pressed, taking a step closer to him so she was right in his face. Electric blue eyes, just like the Thalia he knew.

"A-at school, her name is Rachel," Percy replied uncomfortably, taking a small step back.

"You got expelled from your last school two years ago," Thalia raised her eyebrows in confusion.

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say and he struggled to come up with an excuse. Why hadn't he gone to school? Or why did Thalia think that? Had there been an alternate version of himself that these familiar strangers knew but he didn't? How different were the two of them?

"I- I mean outside her school, that's where we met," he struggled to come up with a not terrible lie. It was just Thalia but somehow he felt like he was surrounded by fiery dragons, ready to burn him if messed up.

"So you just met this random girl at a random school that you happened to pass and she just happened to know how to navigate through the labyrinth?" Thalia summed up dryly.

"No! Not exactly, she can see through the mist and she was seeing monsters, and then she saw me." That was how the two of them had met. Percy really hoped she hadn't changed, if they weren't friends here then Percy desperately wanted to make friends with her again.

Thalia was silent for a few moments, thinking over what she'd heard. "So what you're saying is that because she can see through the mist she is able to get through the labyrinth?" She deduced.

She'd figured that out quickly. "That's right," he confirmed.

She suddenly turned away from him and walked a took a few steps in the opposite direction though the room wasn't large enough that they could really put any distance between each other. He saw her fists clenched in anger and after a moment, when she turned back to him, her thoughtful expression had been replaced by one of fury. He couldn't think what had set it off but Percy was immediately alarmed.

"You think I'm crazy, don't you?" She asked, viciously.

What did she want to hear? "What? No-" Percy began.

"You think I don't like mortals – she's a mortal isn't she?" Thalia continued, ignoring his words.

Percy did nothing; he had no idea what to say. He didn't know this Thalia very well so he hadn't the faintest idea why she'd suddenly start talking like this. All he knew was that she seemed about to vent.

"Well I actually do care about mortals and would be happy to have some join our rebellion! Don't you understand? You're allowed to have friends, there's no need to keep them a secret," she said, a determined air in her voice.

"You want to change the world too, don't you? I know you want a place where demigods don't have to die." There was so much emotion and feeling in her voice, but he didn't really understand what she meant.

"Yes," he replied. He didn't know what else to say, these words weren't directed at him so much as his alternate self.

Thalia gave him one her rare smiles, looking tired. "Don't hide your friends, she's why you're only mentioning the labyrinth now but I have no intention of hurting her, I want to work with her."

Somehow Thalia had come to her own conclusions from what had been said and she was appeased. She wanted to meet Rachel and had forgiven him for supposedly keeping it a secret from her. He was lucky for now but what had she meant about rebellion? What exactly was this group doing? He'd have to play along for now; maybe if Thalia explained everything to Rachel, he'd get a bit of info too.

"Maybe you should meet her then, I could call her?" Percy suggested shyly.

"That sounds lovely!" Thalia beamed, obviously pleased that the conversation had been a success so far as she was concerned.

Percy nodded. "I'll try and arrange a meeting for tomorrow then, can I go for now?" He asked, shifting towards the door. He dearly wanted to leave and be alone to think for a while.

Thalia made an affirmative grunt. She herself looked to be going to organise a bunch of papers left on the table from the meeting. He didn't know precisely what they were but maybe someone had been writing down some of the ideas discussed or something? He decided he didn't care that much and quickly headed out the room, feeling like he was making a lucky escape.

Or he would've if a certain little girl hadn't been standing right outside, waiting for him to come out. Percy jumped in surprise; her appearances were rather disarming. Eris looked cheerful, which seemed to be her default expression. Percy quickly glanced around the wide hallway, breathing a sigh of relief as he didn't spot any of the other demigods hanging around; he wasn't sure what they'd make of Eris.

"Shhh!" Eris whispered, grabbing his arm and tugging to get him to follow her up the stairs. "Let's go back to base."

He didn't resist, wanting to get out of plain sight before anyone saw them. Eris was beginning to get kind of annoying though, Percy thought even as he allowed her to pull him. And she was always moving around! Percy hadn't realised gods even got ADHD but she was jumping about all over the place whilst pulling him - in a straight line.

When they finally got into the room, which Eris had inexplicably declared to be their base; Percy grabbed the phone from the desk and made a point of ignoring her as he fiddled with it. He had a good feeling about it now as it seemed that this was his alternates room in this dimension. It was kinda cool living in a house with a bunch of other demigods though it probably got attacked a lot.

"My reconnaissance mission was a complete success!" Eris announced grandly, nonetheless. He didn't bother to turn around.

5555\. Percy plunked the numbers into the phone, it was the passcode he'd used previously and to his delight the phone immediately gave him access. Maybe this really was his room, or at least his alternate's room.

"This house is located in the suburbs of New York, you and your friends started up a group and it is your base of operations!" Eris revealed in that over the top tone.

Upon checking the contacts it turned out he only had seven numbers in his contacts list. Himself and the other six demigods, unsurprisingly. It was sort of worrying that he hadn't at least saved his mother's number in this world. He probably didn't use it much though seeing as how it attracted monsters to him; he wasn't sure why he had a phone at all if he couldn't be in the safety of camp half-blood. It was downright terrifying to imagine that there was seven phones in the building.

"It has been organised for roughly two years, established by Thalia, who is also the leader," Eris continued with the same vigour.

Oh well, it was convenient if he could use it. He did wonder what had happened to his alternate self, but he could only guess that he had been pulled into his dimension. He quickly typed in Rachel's number (which he was pleased to remember) but hesitated over pressing the call button. What would she say? She was usually straightforward and easy to talk to but this call would be considered very weird, even for her.

He'd been successful enough at ignoring Eris that he couldn't help but be surprised to feel a sudden stinging. Pointy objects were cutting into his neck with the intent of causing him pain. He tried to turn his head but strong claws (where had they come from?) restricted his movement. Out of the corner of his eye he identified the threat as Eris, and immediately struggled against the little girl with determination but she was deceptively strong and wouldn't let go, brutally strangling him, blocking his airways. He coughed and finally ripped off her hands (claws!) before turning and tackling her to the ground.

Eris gave him an ugly smirk; claws had replaced her petite hands and they were now digging into his arms, which restrained her. He tried not to gasp in pain as she drew blood. Immediately he grabbed her wrists instead, pulled her up from the ground and then pinned her to the wall. She ceased struggling, once she realised it was no longer doing him damage.

"What was that for?" He demanded angrily. While he didn't exactly trust her, he hadn't expected to be randomly attacked while he was contemplating the problems that she'd caused.

Eris didn't act particularly intimidated despite the way she was being held; in fact she seemed oddly proud. "That was a warning, don't you dare ignore me!"

"You attacked me because I wasn't listening to you?" Percy surmised in confusion. "And why are you still smiling?"

"I don't take well to slights and I hate being treated like I'm some unimportant minor god," she replied, a dark look on her face.

"Then why'd you attack me? I refused immortality to get minor gods a throne on Olympus," Percy reminded her. It wasn't like he'd been inattentive because she was some minor goddess, it was purely because she was a pain and he'd been trying to focus on what to say to Rachel.

"No, you refused immortality to be with your beloved and the whole throne thing was just an excuse for half-bloods to be claimed!" Eris retorted.

It was sort of hard to ignore the very valid point she'd made, but then he was proud of the decisions he'd made. Percy wondered if Eris was only now showing her true feelings and her acting like some sort of carefree child was just an act. "What's that even supposed to mean? My actions helped you."

"It's true to some extent that they should've but the gods are always looking for ways to slight me and it will be a long time, if ever, before I get some sort of throne," Eris confessed, smiling finally slipping away, replaced with a rather empty look.

"Capturing you was really a bit of revenge, because I hate being forgotten!" She added, fiercely though some energy had definitely left her.

Seeing her looking more thoughtful, Percy finally let go of her but she didn't make any move to attack again. A warning huh? He was here because she'd thought it'd upset the gods? It was kind of embarrassing how easily she'd managed to take him here, if she wanted to make her point though. Why hadn't he been alert to something like this?

It didn't seem like she was planning on leaving him alone anytime soon either though. Making her more of an enemy sounded like a terrible idea, as the whole alternate reality thing hadn't even really been personal if she was telling the truth. It sounded like she was capable of making this adventure more stressful if she felt like it. Therefore, it actually made sense to respect her a little even if she was petty and impulsive.

"I apologise then," Percy said, not that he really regretted any actions. He'd lied a fair amount today already though.

Her features transformed into a brilliant grin. "Great!" Any traces of seriousness immediately vanished from her expression as she danced away from him. She changed moods far too quickly. It was especially hard to know what she genuinely felt.

"Oh yeah, you asked why I was smiling right? I was smiling because you're supposed to be some sort of heroic fighter, defeating Titans according to what the other gods say, and I managed to injure you!" She added

He breathed deeply trying to calm himself. It wasn't just stupid that'd he'd allowed her to attack him, it was worrying that she'd been able to. When had he lost the curse of Achilles? He was supposed to be invulnerable but the long red scratches on him arm suggested otherwise. Presumably, he'd lost it when he ended up here. The pain was annoying but also a bit of a relief; that curse exhausted him and, now that he thought about it, he didn't feel nearly as tired as he usually did.

"So what are your plans for this world?" Eris asked, sitting herself down again on the bed.

He gave it a moment's thought but decided he really didn't want to get into loads of trouble. "I'm just going to lie low, and wait until you have to send me back, you said you couldn't keep me here forever right?" Percy answered.

It was not the answer she'd been hoping for. "That's no fun at all!" She complained looking quite upset, and had a mischievous look in her eyes.

"Fine then! What if I told you that you're an evil person here, and your ultimate goal is to overthrow the gods and Olympus before your little group takes over the world?" Eris revealed, looking him in the eyes.

"WHAT?" Overthrow the gods? That couldn't be right; he'd never want something like that. He could only stare at her, waiting for her to take her words back.

"I'm going to enjoy watching you destroy the world whether you like it or not!" Eris declared, a triumphant grin on her face.

That couldn't be true, how could it? He could easily lie low and quietly befriend Rachel. But Thalia had mentioned a rebellion and something he hadn't understood about changing the world…

Oh no. It suddenly seemed far too possible.

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**That's it, thanks for reading! Do tell me whether you like or dislike Eris as she's essentially an original character, I can make her role smaller if she's annoying you though I quite like writing her. Her role is one that is meant to aggravate other characters though, especially any that she feels slighted by. **

**Hopefully the pace seems alright, though the chapter aren't that long.**

**Anyway please do review as they're really appreciated and I'll try to update!**


	5. Why can't he get to relax?

**Hey there, been a few days since I updated this but I've had other stories to take care of too. I rewrote An impossible relationship so it sounds far better and added another chapter to Regrets. Don't want to neglect it in favour of this new one. Especially as it so far appears more popular than this one. I appreciate reviews as they encourage me to work on this! Anyway I hope you like this chapter. **

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"You're lying! These are my friends," Percy protested Eris's wild claim. Their ultimate goal couldn't be destruction - it was wrong. But he found himself thinking about it anyway.

"So are you just going to blend in?" She asked chirpily, as if he hadn't spoken. Her bright eyes were really annoying, not to mention the wide smirk that suggesting she was enjoying herself.

Surprisingly, considering she was supposed to be a goddess of Discord, Eris didn't seem to fancy actually arguing, instead she just spoke with this annoying certainty in her voice, like there was no question of her being wrong and she saw no reason to discuss the issue. She wasn't going to reply that she wasn't lying or explain the situation further. She was simply satisfied that she'd created turmoil in his mind and didn't bother defending her claims despite them being ridiculous.

"What do you mean?" Percy asked, fearing the worst. He drummed his fingers on the desk in anxiety.

She sighed, looking impatient. "You said you were just going to wait until I sent you back. Am I wrong in assuming that it's still your plan?"

It was true that he'd said that. A moment ago he'd thought everything here was fine however; but if things weren't okay then he had to act. He couldn't bear to see innocent people get hurt even if… even if his friends… No. He couldn't betray his friends, they meant the world to him. But he didn't want the world to be destroyed either! Was there a way to save the world and his friends?

"I don't know," Percy confessed. It felt like Annabeth had betrayed him. All of them really, but mostly Annabeth. Technically it wasn't even her really but she'd seemed like the Annabeth he knew.

A simple idea occurred to him. It was far from a solution or anything but maybe it'd be a start? "Actually, I think I'm going to call Rachel," he said with newfound determination.

The phone was still unlocked in his hands, ready to be used. Rachel had always been very straightforward to talk to, and he'd know if she was different pretty quickly probably. If she wasn't too different though then she'd be a huge help, and not only because she could see through the mist.

He shouldn't jump to conclusions about the group of demigods yet, anyway. Everything had been extremely weird today, it was probably best to disbelieve everything at this point, (especially if it was said by Eris). He couldn't exactly ignore her words either though because it was possible she wasn't lying but he wouldn't accept them right away.

Eris clapped her hands together in excitement, at his response. "Lovely! I think I'll go and scare her myself then. Later!" She decided, giving him a quick wave. And with that she began glowing, bathed in a gold light. Percy quickly averted his gaze (wishing she'd given some kind of warning - that was dangerous), and when he turned back around, she was gone.

What was that about? Why'd she disappear? She was attempting to scare Rachel? It was probably impossible to scare Rachel. Actually, it was probably best not to think about it, Eris was getting very high on his mental list of very strange gods. Percy couldn't help but note that the room felt strangely empty with her boundless excitement abruptly gone, though it was far more peaceful.

And with no excuse to delay the call, Percy dialled Rachel's number and waited for the phone to connect. If the phone was going to connect at all. What was he going to say to her? He wanted to explain his situation and get some advice but if his alternate self hadn't known her then she wouldn't know anything about the camp or half-bloods. He also had to persuade her to help navigate the Labyrinth for Thalia.

"…Hello?" A surly female voice came from the phone.

Had the call actually worked? By some miracle could the number he remembered be the correct one? "Is this Rachel Elizabeth Dare?" He asked, feeling suddenly nervous.

"Yes, but who are you? I don't have any boys' numbers and I don't like salespeople. You have two seconds to amuse me," It was unmistakably Rachel on the phone. He grinned at her reply.

"I'm Percy; have you ever seen things you couldn't explain? Like monsters from myths? Things that no one else could see?" That ought to keep her interest.

There was a slight pause. "Are you suggesting monster exist? Because most people would call you crazy," she said but he thought he could detect some curiosity.

"Maybe I am but that doesn't mean I'm lying. In fact I want to meet you to show you I'm not," Percy replied. Great, he'd just called himself crazy; most people would hang up on him for being nonsensical.

Rachel was not most people fortunately. "So just because you think monsters exist, I should meet with you?" Rachel asked sceptically. She had the same tone that made him feel like a crazy person.

"Are you interested? I'm not doing anything tomorrow," Percy replied, feeling oddly confident. Rachel had never been able to resist odd, maybe life-threatening offers.

Another pause. "Where do you want to meet?"

Percy grinned, a little surprised but pleased with the small success. He quickly suggested a location which he knew was right by an entrance to the labyrinth and she agreed to meet him there (with a small warning that if he was faking this, she'd kill him with her hairbrush she reserved for enemies and particularly fierce knots).

Once he'd hung up a wave of exhaustion seemed to roll over him and he realised how tired he was. He was wondering if he should've said more to Rachel on the phone, all he'd managed to do was get her to agree to meet him. He hadn't mentioned that Thalia was with him or that she believed that the two of them were already secretly friends and he'd need her to play along. It'd be hard to explain his world over the phone though so maybe this was the right way to do it anyway.

He relaxed on his bed, deciding that some sleep would be appropriate. How much had changed in the past couple of hours? A whole new world where almost everything he knew was different, yet a lot remained the same as his success in contacting Rachel showed. In fact this alternate world was eerily similar to his own, friends who acted just a little different and the same events appeared to have occurred with different outcomes. He hoped he wouldn't have to start reading old newspapers or something silly to find out how things had changed.

Annabeth (his Annabeth) had mentioned something like this once. She'd been in Olympus going over her plans for renovations and the conversation had shifted to an odd topic. They'd been examining some damaged statues, and some undamaged statues. Annabeth had planned to keep a lot of the undamaged aesthetics the same where she could. He'd asked about what she'd have done if the statues in front of them had remained whole while the ones across from them had been broken instead, how different would her overall designs be then?

Her reply was weird. She'd said that perhaps in another world she had rebuilt and designed it differently and, since Olympus was such an important place, the small changes could have had significant impacts for the future. Alternate dimensions, where everything was different, were the outcomes for these seemingly insignificant events. Of course when he asked how the statues would make a difference she couldn't actually come up with a good scenario but it was an interesting idea anyway.

The very idea that he could be in one of those alternate dimensions was hurting his head. What could have caused his friends to change so much that they wanted to overthrow the gods? It had to be something big, right? Or maybe it was something really small that had a big effect somehow? It was with these troubling thoughts that Percy eventually drifted to sleep.

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Some shrill ringing assaulted his ears.

Percy ignored the horrible noise, digging in to the warm covers, not yet willing to wake up. The noise just continued unrelentingly however, demanding that he get up. With a groan, he reached forward to give the alarm clock a hard whack. He lowered his arms back into the covers. He was going to lie here for a few more minutes and nothing could change his mind. The alarm was apparently satisfied with forcing him to move and gave him some peaceful silence.

Some indeterminate amount of time later, a loud crunching noise reached his ears, after he'd managed to relax again. As the annoying crunches continued he sighed, realising that he was going to be denied any rest until he dealt with it. Percy wearily got up, and looked around the modest room in incomprehension. He was a little disorientated but he couldn't recognise where he was. He attempted to focus, starting to realise that he wasn't actually in his familiar cabin at camp half-blood

"Good morning!" Piped up a little girl, who was eating an apple. She was the source of the annoying crunching noise then, he noted as she took another large chomp out of the half-eaten yellow fruit.

"Where am I?" He asked her, drowsily but with some wariness. Instincts were warning him against her and he listened to them.

She frowned slightly. "I always thought demigods were light sleepers but you look grumpy," she replied, not answering his question.

Such an unhelpful response somehow managed to bring him some clarity. That had to be Eris, the most annoying god he'd ever met despite only knowing her for half a day. And this was his alternate's room, that he'd magically appeared in. Yesterday had been somewhat strange, even for him. So strange in fact, that some of that strangeness was almost certain to overflow into today; unfortunately there was no real way to prepare for utter strangeness.

He tried to dismiss some of the weirdness for the moment. "Is there food downstairs?" He asked her, looking longingly at the apple as she continued to munch on it. Food was generally a good way to prepare no matter what happened.

"There is!" She exclaimed brightly, looking pleased about the fact.

"Great, I'll just get dressed and-" Percy began, hoping she'd get the hint to leave.

The girl cut him off in her usual cheerful manner. "Unfortunately you won't have time to eat as you'll need to go out to meet Rachel in a few minutes."

"What!?"

"I'll go explore while you get ready, you don't want to keep Miss Thalia waiting for long," Eris said advised, walking out of the room.

"Why didn't you wake me up half an hour ago?" He demanded to the retreating figure, but she didn't bother to turn around or reply.

Percy tried to remain calm, knowing that chasing her really wouldn't help much. Not if Thalia was expecting him- she was not one to be kept waiting. He followed Eris's advice, and got ready quickly, grabbing anything he thought might be useful in the room. It turned out that he didn't own riptide in this world and instead had a long blue blade that could shrink in length to the size of a knife; while that was pretty cool, it was far less spectacular than his old sword and he felt a little cheated. Still, it was better than nothing. He took a moment to puzzle over the empty fish tank before leaving, hoping he hadn't forgotten something crucial that Thalia would notice.

When he arrived downstairs a few minutes later, Thalia was already waiting at the door with a look of impatience on her disconcertingly old face. He couldn't even remember whether he'd actually told her a time. Annabeth popped her head in from the hallway and glanced at the pair of them questioningly.

"We're going out now, though we ought to have left a few minutes ago," Thalia said bluntly, rolling her eyes as Percy stumbled on the stairs.

Annabeth looked far from pleased. "Oh… you don't need my help for anything, do you?" She asked.

"No, you're invaluable here," Thalia replied, in a tone that she couldn't argue with. "Come on, you." The last was said to him.

Percy, looked to Annabeth even as he took a few steps towards the door. She was looking at him with a trace of concern. He found he wanted to say something to her but didn't have the slightest idea of what he could say. He didn't know this Annabeth, even if she did look the same. So, he could only turn away from her to follow Thalia out the door.

Percy was surprised to be lead to a humble-looking black car though it made sense for her to drive at her age. Few words were exchanged, he merely described where they were meeting Rachel. Just like with Annabeth, he didn't know what to say to her as she smoothly drove out of the drive and into the road. It was best to say nothing really in case he said something wrong and she became suspicious. He didn't know this Thalia well enough to know what she'd do.

After a few minutes of this uncomfortable silence though, Thalia casually asked for more info about Rachel. It was to be expected really. Hopefully Rachel wasn't too different, she'd seemed normal (for her) on the phone. It really wouldn't be a good idea to describe her wrongly but he wasn't sure what would be right. It was probably best to be honest, maybe a little vague.

"Her full name's Rachel Elizabeth Dare and she's part of a wealthy family - though I don't think she's very much like her parents. She's kind of odd – for a mortal," Percy said, awkwardly adding that last sentence. Of course all demigods were so strange; it was natural for Rachel to fit in with them.

"And she's completely aware of the gods?" Thalia queried. Fortunately her intent gaze was not of him but the road.

"Umm… mostly?" He said, awkwardly. The answer was no, but he couldn't possibly say that.

"Maybe I should talk to her first, so I can introduce her to the idea of demigods?" Percy suggested tentatively. It was critical that he to talk to her first, to get her to play along. Maybe he ought to have this whole scenario through a bit better.

Thalia audibly groaned. "How can you have taken her into the Labyrinth and still fail to explain to her about demigods at all? Fine then, I'm not up to explaining the basics and you already know her."

"Well she know about monsters and stuff it's just kind of weird to mention that my parent's a Greek god," Percy defended, starting to feel really overwhelmed by the whole idea of lying for any length of time. What had he said to Rachel exactly over the phone?

It was good that Thalia had agreed to a few moments alone at least although he wasn't sure if it was enough. How much could he say to her before Thalia came, expecting to be shown the labyrinth? How could he possibly expect Rachel to deceive Thalia on a whim? Would the Labyrinth even work right? Percy really hoped this meeting went better than he expected.

* * *

**That's it, what did you think? Does the tone sound a little too serious? Is the pace a bit slow? Please do be honest with me, I'd really appreciate your reviews, more than just asking me for an update though all are welcome. **

**Luke isn't a villain in this world, if you're wondering. Thanks for reading!**


	6. Meeting with a Pretty Guide

**Hey there, I was eager to write another chapter of this little story so here you go! We get to meet Rachel Elizabeth Dare, whom I quite like. And she's not an oracle so far, which I like even more. By the way, this story's already over 15 000 words!**

* * *

It was impressive how Rachel stood out even in a crowd of people. They'd agreed to meet in a shopping centre and it was full of all sorts of people at this time of the day. Yet most people were busy, walking with a sense of purpose, too focused on their mindless tasks to pay much attention to their surroundings. Rachel seemed so detached from the hectic crowd, aimlessly looking around and drifting through the throng of people.

It was a good sign that they'd found her so quickly. Percy ran over to her, aware that Thalia was now following him closely, but knowing he had to get to her first. Rachel immediately noticed his approach, apparently she'd already realised it was him that she was waiting for. She looked at him intently, a serious look in her gaze that was probably supposed to be somewhat threatening, meaning he'd better have something interesting to tell her. She'd practically come out her on a whim but wouldn't be prepared to take this meeting as a joke; she wanted answers.

"You must be Percy, but how do you know me?" Rachel asked immediately. She seemed cautious, wary. Only her desperation for answers was why she had come after all.

"Rachel," he greeted, with a friendly smile, or perhaps it was a relieved smile. So far she seemed exactly like he remembered. She wore ragged clothes that were nonetheless expensive and clashed interestingly. Only she could make blue and green work together and not look garish with her red hair. There seemed to be paint on the cuffs of her jacket too.

"I'll explain everything soon, but please play along for a minute," he said softly, trying to put some urgency into his voice. He then tried to give a very pronounced glance at the swiftly approaching Thalia and could only hope that Rachel had understood.

Thalia was too close for him to say anything else now. She didn't look suspicious or annoyed fortunately, but she was far too curious, just like Rachel. Thalia gave her a very searching glance while Rachel silently looked between the pair of them. There was no way she could understand what was going on but he couldn't say anything in front of this Thalia, not without all trust being shattered.

"So you must be Rachel then," Thalia said, her thoughts hard to read. "Percy's been keeping you secret from me but his worries were unfounded - I mean you no harm," she continued, sounding almost like she was nervous.

Rachel shot him a look of confusion and anger. He really felt bad because she didn't have a clue what was going on and it was all his fault that he'd mentioned her in the first place. All he could do was look at her with a worried expression and hope she didn't say anything. To be honest, there was quite a lot she could say without making Thalia suspicious as Thalia had no idea how much or how little Rachel had been told about them but it didn't make the situation anywhere near ideal.

"Hello." Rachel paused. "I'm Rachel Elizabeth Dare and it's exciting to meet you," she said, slowly but hiding her uncertainty. Rachel glanced at him again and he just nodded, because her reply had been fine and she was awesome for playing along.

"Right, Thalia, maybe we should sit down for drinks or something, to talk a little? And she'd probably appreciate a few private words from me first," Percy suggested, hoping it didn't sound too forced.

Thalia considered briefly. "I guess that would be appropriate but let's not waste too much time," she agreed and managed to reinforce the idea that she was in charge to Rachel.

Rachel was wisely remaining quiet, and positioned herself next to Percy while Thalia deliberately walked ahead and looked for a suitable café that wasn't too crowded. It seemed he had a least a moment to explain a few things.

"I happen to know that you have the special ability to see through the mist, which is why you're able to see monsters that others don't see," Percy launched right into an explanation, keeping his voice lowered.

"Who are you? How do you know me and why does that women, Thalia, think I know you?" Rachel asked, keeping her voice equally quiet but showing she was angry and unnerved.

"I can't explain everything but I told Thalia that we were friends because I'm an idiot. As a clear-sighted mortal you have a unique gift that Thalia believes can help our group. Monsters are very real and we have to fight against them, most people can't see them," Percy said quickly, wondering how he could explain the alternate dimension mess.

"You guys see through this mist too then? I thought I was going crazy," Rachel surmised, examining his face. She was probably looking for signs that would indicate he was a monster too, like she'd done previously, in his dimension. She was obviously still pretty suspicious though.

"I can see monsters but they can see me too, I'm not exactly a mortal, nor is Thalia," Percy tried to explain in a roundabout way, but he couldn't see any way to reveal what he was without just being blunt.

"We're demigods, my father is one of the Greek gods of Olympus, and they regularly have children with mortals like in the myths. The myths are all true," Percy decided to just confess. "I'm sorry I'm telling you this now, when I'm in the middle of a huge mess," he added sincerely.

Rachel stumbled a little. She seemed stunned by the new information and didn't know how to react to such an outlandish tale. At least she wasn't running away, not that he would expect her to. She was too cool for that kind of reaction. It was so weird to have to explain everything to her for the second time. Especially when he was trying to trick Thalia at the same time.

"The Greek myths are all true?" Rachel repeated, dazed, not looking at him but into the distance. Ahead of them, Thalia was waiting for them at a small table, in front of a café she'd now found.

"Yes, all the strange stuff is hidden to mortals through the mist though, so that they don't see my world. You seeing through it means your special," Percy replied. He then gave Thalia a reassuring smile; it would not do to keep her waiting.

"But I'm special?" Rachel said and her eyes were now alight with the new information. His explanations made sense to her; of course they would. "So all the Greek gods are real?"

"Yes," Percy replied, still looking towards Thalia.

"Listen, you can see things, so we need your help, you have the power to navigate through the labyrinth and I'll need you to lead us through it," he said in a rush. "Now please play along once more?"

Rachel couldn't reply as he took a seat next to Thalia, and gestured for Rachel to take the other chair. She did, though she seemed a little reluctant and obviously had more questions.

"Well you two sure know how to dawdle, I've ordered you both a diet coke so I guess we've got some time now anyway," Thalia said breezily.

"Thanks," Percy muttered, not sure what to say.

"So what exactly are we hoping to achieve - in the labyrinth?" Rachel asked Thalia directly. He was impressed she was being so straightforward and actually seemed like she was going to help.

Thalia focused. "So you really can navigate it then?" She asked.

Percy quickly cut in. "Yeah she can, it's still a bit dangerous but even then she can detect all the traps and things," he provided. Rachel briefly gave him a worried look, perhaps annoyed that he had to be answering for her.

"Fascinating," Thalia said. Then she answered Rachel's question. "I'm not sure you're aware of just how useful it is but with it you can move long distances impossibly quickly as space is different in there and you can get into otherwise inaccessible places and no one can see you coming."

"Yeah, it's strategically important and can take you pretty much anywhere in the US but without a guide it is incredibly dangerous with people often going mad or dying when they wander in," Percy added to her explanation.

Rachel's eyes widened. "But why do you need it so much then?" She asked, obviously not impressed with the thought of going mad.

Their drinks arrived then, and Percy gratefully took a sip, wishing Thalia had thought to order a little food as well given that he'd missed breakfast. Thalia hardly noticed her own glass of coke being placed in front of her though, she was looking at Rachel, deep in thought.

Thalia spoke with great care. "It's obvious that Percy hasn't told you too much yet," she began, shooting him an irritated look. "I don't think we should tell you more unless you are interested in actually getting involved with our group though, consider it a member's privilege."

"Wait, so you want me in your group?" Rachel asked, sceptically.

Thalia shrugged. "Percy trusts you and you could be a useful ally. We're not at a stage where we can be exclusive anyway," she replied, sounding rather like she didn't care.

"Well, would I have to do anything?" She then asked.

Percy was beginning to realise once again that he didn't even know what was going on. Eris's words couldn't be ignored about the group being sort of rebellious and so he wasn't sure that Rachel joining was a good idea at all. But then again, it'd be nice if she was with him. As far as he could tell, she had the same personality as her old self and maybe he'd be able to share his story with her.

"Nothing specific. You ought to meet the others and stay in contact with us but beyond that it depends on how much you're willing to help. We won't expect you to give up your mortal life and drop everything for us anyway," Thalia replied kindly. Percy couldn't help but think it was because she was actively trying to recruit her.

Rachel gave them an easy smile. "I still have two weeks left of Summer and didn't have anything else planned so I guess I could stick around. It'd be okay if I did end up dropping out if things didn't work though, right?"

Percy couldn't help but grin back. he didn't know many people who could accept danger and vague promises so easily but that was just who she was. Anything odd and exciting was the perfect bait for her. Also there was the fact that the monsters she could see were probably rather disturbing and she appreciated any answers. Still, he'd half-expected her to not be interested when he'd made it clear that he was keeping secrets and deceiving Thalia.

"Yeah, no problem." Thalia agreed. "You can't tell anyone anything though," she warned her.

Rachel snorted. "I'm sure everyone would totally believe that you two have godly parents if I told them."

Percy chuckled too. Rachel had said something similar when he'd first met her in his world. She had surprised him with how sensible she was then, or maybe it was how self-aware she was, knowing that she was considered usual. Mostly, it was just funny that she'd managed to make Annabeth so irritated. He took another sip of his drink.

Thalia groaned. "Don't even mention it. The gods care very little for demigods or mortals and their attitude sickens me," she declared.

"Percy probably hasn't told you that we wish for a revolution, a transformation of our society. As it stands now, it is very flawed," Thalia continued, some steel entering her voice. "You see, demigods like us get a very raw deal, we're constantly hunted by a plethora of deadly monsters and many divine parents never so much as bother to even claim us - let alone speak to us!"

"Not only that, but anytime they actually have a problem, we're called in to solve it like that's our only job. That's why we need this uprising! We need to change the way things are!" Thalia insisted passionately. She kept a level voice so as not to attract onlookers but the determination in her voice was palpable.

Percy wasn't really sure what to think about her statement though. His dad, Poseidon, was pretty cool and genuinely cared about him and his mother. They often made difficult decisions about keeping distant from their children but it was often with good intentions. His dad staying away from him for his childhood meant that he hadn't had to deal with monsters until he began to realise who he was. Hermes had made a few mistakes with Luke but he had cared all the same.

Then again, too many children weren't claimed seemingly because gods were too busy and without Thalia's tree to guard the camp, it would be really unsafe and under threat. It was no wonder they were unhappy but a revolution seemed like too much and Thalia sounded like she wanted to rule the world or something, which was a scary thought. He recalled Annabeth once mentioning that she thought she could do things better than the gods too and she was also part of the group.

Rachel looked a little hesitant too. "You'll have to tell me more at some point, but it sounds interesting," she offered as a reply.

Thalia relaxed a little, seeing that she was making them uncomfortable. "It's cool if you don't know a lot yet, when you meet the others we can share some more info and things," she said.

Percy was beginning to feel uncomfortable with the discussion even if he was finally learning something about the group. At any time Thalia might expect him to speak and he wouldn't know what to say. "Well, I'm glad we've got that sorted out," Percy spoke up. "I guess we should show you the Labyrinth now though we don't want to be in it too long," he suggested.

Thalia turned to him. "Any particular reason why?" She asked. Rachel also paid keen attention.

"Time flows differently in there so we don't want to accidentally go somewhere and discover that we've been gone for days or something," he explained

"Fair enough then, drink up and we'll get going!" Thalia told them cheerfully, raising her own glass.

* * *

They soon left the peaceful café and Percy led them over to a little card shop where he knew there was a Greek delta on the wall - the symbol indicating a labyrinth entrance. Rachel followed them willingly enough, evidently curious for some evidence that all their claims were actually true. She was doing remarkably well at taking their word so far though.

At the back of the card shop, Percy knew they would find the mark of Daedalus on the wall. He'd only found it after the Labyrinth had been destroyed in his world so he'd never actually had the chance to use it in his dimension but it was unmistakeably the right mark. Rachel knew of one too but she'd think him even weirder if he'd chosen that one.

"It requires the touch of a demigod to open an entrance but they're always marked with this sign," Percy informed Rachel as the approached said wall. Hopefully Thalia wasn't going to be suspicious; he'd said earlier that Rachel had already taken him through the labyrinth before but hopefully she'd be assuming that he was being needlessly dramatic or something.

He touched the wall and Rachel attempted to muffle a gasp as it smoothly opened up to reveal a dark tunnel, the entrance easily big enough for the three of them to slip inside. They all entered slowly and the wall closed behind them leaving them in darkness. Just like that they were in the Labyrinth. It was a scary thought. Even with Rachel as guide, there was much to fear.

Now there could be absolutely no doubt that it was really another dimension. The labyrinth was alive in this world and he was standing in it. It was actually really frightening now that he was here, as he couldn't help but remember all the close encounters with death he'd experienced while in here, monsters could be lurking close by.

"Woah, this is really something," Thalia said into the gloom, putting a hand on his shoulder. It was comforting to have human contact in a place like this one.

Percy quickly took out a torch he'd brought from the house and turned it on. The three of them probably looked a little strange just standing there but going very far would be a bad idea. He looked to Rachel, who was examining the dark walls curiously.

"So Rachel, do you think if we asked you to take us through the tunnels to somewhere like Florida or something?" Percy asked her, deciding that it was a good time to demonstrate her guide skills.

"I feel like I can; the way forward looks pretty obvious, are you sure only I can see it?" Rachel replied, a little nervous.

"Only you can lead the way," he replied.

"Well, if we're not actually planning on going somewhere today then we should probably just get out, this place gives me the creeps," Thalia said, though she did look intrigued.

"Yeah, we don't want too much time to pass," Percy agreed, examining the wall again for the mark of Daedalus.

Percy gave one last look at the legendary tunnels, wondering if it was possible to learn how to navigate the labyrinth like Rachel could. Daedalus had said that demigods were easily distracted, which was why the labyrinth was so successful at tricking them but maybe they could learn not to be? But that was a question for another time, and he quickly pressed on the mark and allowed light to stream in from the entrance; the mist would make sure mortals didn't see anything.

Thalia sighed in relief. "I don't think we can ignore the utility of that place if we have a guide but I can't say I like going in there, maybe Bianca would be best for it - she's pretty good with caves."

Rachel glanced at her watch on her wrist. "An hour has gone by in a few minutes," she proclaimed dramatically, smiling for some reason.

"Yeah, so that gives us a lot of options if we have Rachel helping us," Percy said, not too surprised by the time difference even if it was weird.

Thalia nodded. "The others will want to hear about this." She turned to Rachel. "Percy can call you sometime soon, when you're not busy we'll invite you to meet everyone. It was nice meeting you!"

Percy grabbed his phone out of his pocket. As he and Thalia walked back through the shopping mall, leaving Rachel behind now that the meeting was over for the day. It was annoying to text while walking but he knew he had to say a few more things to Rachel that he couldn't say in front of Thalia.

He texted. 'Call you later? I have things to tell you'

A minute later she'd texted back. 'I'm waiting.'

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**That's it, hope you liked it! I would appreciate it if you took a moment to give a quick review. They're very encouraging.**

**Do any of the characters seem to Out Of Character, by the way? One of these days I should get a beta to help with stuff like that. Hope the pacing is okay, I know Rachel isn't everyone's favourite character but she can be a safe person for him to confide in. Do tell me what sort of things you like or dislike or what characters you may want to see more of. Lots of things aren't fixed.**


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